Peverell Successor
by Zenzao
Summary: What would the wizarding world have been like if the Three Brothers had not faded? How would they have changed things if the order of Hallows was altered up? Follow their brief travels before finding out precisely what awaits several centuries later.
1. Prologue

_October 30th, 1239, Scottish Highlands  
><em>

The sun had long since descended beyond the edge of the withered forest about the trio of men trotting forward, each baring a narrow frame of wood of differing lengths and shades and each likewise glowing at the tip with a half-dome of clear yellow light; and its purpose was two fold, to surround and shield them from the shadows lurking out from ahead and chase away that which had almost silently haunted their footsteps these last days.

It was with relief that the sounds of a violent churning reflected off the wispy trees in their direction roughly ahead and to their right, and so the three men's footsteps echoed off of the well-trodden dirt path toward it.

In minutes the massive river toward the end of their journey appeared exactly as the scroll had mentioned it, and with no other way around they stood shoulder to shoulder and summoned, shaped, and solidified their will together.

A wide stone arch settled heavily onto each end of the river bed with a wet _thump_ and sank down several inches beneath its own weight therein, coming to a solid rest before the men.

The youngest of the lot smiled wearily before the same rustle of long nights past crept upon them from behind once again, and as one they turned to face the unknown threat.

Leaves crunched upon the ground beneath an unseen weight, and a voice strange and eerie to their ears spoke in a foreign tongue from no where.

The sound of something exhaling slowly reached them from only a few feet away before each man was suddenly whipped off of their feet and sent hurtling over the very river they had been about to cross to land upon a surprisingly soft impact on the other side.

The footsteps continued up over their bridge; and each wand was taken from their hands and called to hover in mid air, before a pale and waxy hand emerged from thin-air to grasp them.

Stricken down and disarmed the three could only watch in varying states of dismay, frustration, and confusion as a fourth man unveiled himself with the other hand.

"_Adiuvo Agnosco._" the fourth man commanded as his own wand was drawn and pointed at them. A clear yellow spell rushed forward and struck the ground nearest each and a matching dome exploded into being for over a dozen feet around.

He stepped forward and into the dome, and spoke once more. "The brothers Peverell, I take it." he said in an accent unrecognizable, but his words were clear enough to be accepted.

"Aye, that be our given surname. And yours, walker of the shadows?" Antioch demanded warily. The fourth man smiled in a sickly manner at him, brushing lengthy black hair from his nearly matching blackened eyes.

"Master of Death in mortal flesh, baring these gifts to alter the events that would come upon your lineage; do not take them lightly, and do not deliver unto others what or where they are, for only the abyss awaits each of you in that path." he responded softly.

"Which of you bares the greater fighting spirit, brothers Peverell?" the dark haired man asked quietly into the following silence, "Who is the eagerest to seek the answers lost to time?"

"... What do you mean?" Cadmus ventured to speak cautiously. From within the folds of his long and torn cloak the other man drew forth a small polished stone and, tumbling it thrice within his palm, looked up and smiled again.

A distortion in the air behind him appeared as mist gathered in greater reserves beneath the bridge, rising into the air to give shape to a bearded figure none of them knew.

"Harry?" the mist-specter asked in surprise. The man turned toward him and waved a hand partly in greeting, and partly to dismiss the spirit back to the afterlife.

With a grimace the figure faded away. "A wizard beyond your time, recalled to the waking realms for but a few short moments. Any figure, even I, must answer its call when the time is nigh." Harry told them.

"This is my first gift, to whom would speak and learn from the great minds no more among our kind. Of you, fellow brethren in magic, who is most curious to control this feat?" he asked carefully.

Ignotus looked at his older brothers and nodded to himself, not sure why but trusting that neither of them would use this tool for its intended purpose.

As they were told, Antioch would be more likely to demonstrate it and try to earn favor. And Cadmus... he had little grasp over history of this sort.

Harry nodded to him as Ignotus stepped up to the bridge. "Do you swear on life and blood to protect this secret, to trust in none and nothing but the spirits you would raise with it, to honor our deal upon this midnight twilight?" he asked in a far more serious voice, the tone dropping so that only they two could hear it.

"Is it truly so valuable that my life has no meaning before it?" the youngest Peverell questioned, and at the dark haired mans continual stare allowed himself to answer. "Verily. Let it be so." he stated.

In an instant their opposing hands had met together as Ignotus own wand appeared beside them, and a flicker of flame appeared just in time to drive itself through the back in a nail of transparent energy.

Harry smiled more sharply at the pain as Ignotus was forced down upon one knee, and yet his grip did not waver. "_Then I relinquish this, the Resurrection Stone, upon my ancestral predecessor _Ignotus Peverell, _bound now and all so long as his line may endure._" with those words commanded the wand fell to the arch with a soft clatter, and the nail of fire faded from sight with only a thin blemish left behind as physical proof.

The stone that had been clasped between their palms fell solely into his own.

* * *

><p>AN: _Adiuvo;_ to help, aid, assist. _Agnosco; _to recognize, understand, perceive.

Prologue completed.


	2. Chapter 1

The music was rough, the crowd nearest too drunk for its own good, and even the barkeep looked uninterested in keeping the people under control as they cheered roughly to the tune the house-elfs were straining to keep up with.

Ignotus frowned as he fingered the stone uneasily within one pocket, still feeling the unwelcome presence of the man in the forest.  
>Antioch looked just as unhappy as he shrugged beneath the two cloaks, one invisible draped carefully into the lining of the lesser and mud-caked other on the outside.<p>

Only Cadmus seemed bemusedly interested, and he examined the menu before them with a critical eye before rising and approaching the owner. "We request only simple water this night. Our journey has been too long and too wearying to endure the presence of even the richest mead." he said.

The middle-aged bartender frowned. "If its water you want, we have a trow out back for the horses." he answered dismissively. Cadmus frowned in turn and returned to his brothers table empty-handed.

"It would appear he cares more for the rowdy fools about us, perhaps all the easier to pick-pocket in the crack of dawn." He told them.

Antioch stirred angrily and was held down by the other two. "I'll show him who's worthy to drink like a common horse!" he bit out through clenched teeth.

"No, you won't. You can not." whispered a cool tone in his ear as a fourth presence made itself known at their table. Ignotus leaned back in caution and beneath the table Cadmus drew the Elder Wand warily.

"You still follow us?" Antioch hissed.

"That I do, brothers Peverell. I do not doubt you to make mistakes; the bond is fresh and newly sowed. In time it will prevent you from errors; I do not care to risk them in this otherwise." He answered.

"If you were to challenge the bartender you would gather the attention of the entire troupe of enemies all about you, and in the insuring melee could you guarantee the cloak would go untorn, unbroken and unstolen? Of course not. Your interests would be in defending yourself first and foremost." He continued.

"No, it is best to do as he instructs. Take your water from the trow and transfigure it into something more pleasant for your path to Godrics Hollow." Harry told them firmly.

Cadmus slowly pushed up to his feet. "You know more than you let on, then, if so easily you may predict what is to come with such surety." He stated seriously.

Beneath the charm Harry nodded, despite the fact that no one could see him clearly. "Aye. I have given you but three gifts of absolute magic on this night. The Hallows rest in your tenor until the end of days; their lessors I keep within my own folds." He told them.

"Very well." Ignotus stood up as well. "You will be our continual shadow until your own end, aye?" and without awaiting an answer, rose to his feet and departed for the doorway. Only a moment later Antioch and Cadmus followed, and at their backs and unseen Harry made sure their arrival and departure went unnoticed by any within the bar before stepping out afterward.

* * *

><p>"What is the world like, where you came from?" Ignotus finally asked as they crept over the land only a few hours later. The unwelcome foot steps confirmed they were yet still accompanied by the unseen and so far unnamed man, aside from that ridiculous title.<p>

"Desolate. Decayed. Crumbling to the desires of the bureaucratic fools who allowed two wars in thirty years to consume the wizarding world." His voice answered carefully from the shadows.

"Go on." Ignotus urged him after several long moments of silence. Harry nodded to himself and trekked forward quicker, long strides bringing him up to pace with the youngest Peverell brother.

"I will not speak the name of the man that caused such misery to spread across the world, least he gain any further fame. But he took steps no sane human being would ever choose to embrace, and indeed they were too few to succeed where Prophecy is invoked." Harry told him softly.

"My youth was spent depraved and ruinous at the hands of that mans actions, and so it was well into my adulthood that I saw friends and allies undone in his will to survive. I spent much of the last decade of my life merely researching ways to overcome a centuries advantage and lead that he possessed." and here Harry fell into silence again.

"Thus... ?" Antioch unwillingly questioned from ahead, unable to ignore the story. It meant the man they had faced was indeed a human, or once might have been.

"Thus?" Harry repeated quietly and shook his head to clear it. "I _slew_ him. I tore his _soul_ to remnants and burned those into _ashes_. His name has been _eradicated_ from history and his _magic_ taken unto my _own_. Before I came here this night his birth was _sacrificed_ to ensure the necessary _triumph_ and _jump _to this age could be done." his voice did not unduly change or waver as he spoke of simple cold blooded murder as though it were an everyday occurrence, but a subtle and sub-human note crept into it from beneath upon certain words.

All three brothers turned toward where he was at and directed their wands, retreating together to put distance between them and he. Harry laughed. "If I wanted to kill you three it would have been done as you were born. No, in my time the Peverell's had splintered and become extinct. I reject this outcome; you will _live_, and you will _thrive_, and at the end of many centuries your name will be spoken of with not only respect but _awe_. I will build you into masters of magic unseen in three hundred years." He stated with an unseen grimace crossing his face.

"And you _will_ become as to _legend_, brothers Peverell three. I will see to this if it takes eternity. Now watch as you walk and take care to note the acromantula nest _this time_. I have seen you all die quite readily at this point of the journey in your haste and fear to escape me." he forewarned in a sharp tone.

The threat of the monstrous arachnids was enough to temporarily distract them from the even more monstrous thing before them, and Cadmus turned to face the pale pathway ahead slowly. His eyes scanned the branches and soon caught sight of that which would slay them.

* * *

><p>Chapter one completed.<p> 


End file.
